Volkswagen, Toyota partner with ridesharing services

May 25, 2016

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Volkswagen (ETR: VOW) and Toyota (NYSE: TM) have become the latest major automotive companies to join forces with on-demand ridesharing services. Volkswagen has made a $300 million investment in Gett, a pre-order taxi and on-demand corporate black car service available in more than 60 cities worldwide, with roughly 50,000 taxis on its platform and over 4,000 enterprise clients.

Toyota has partnered with Uber, a surprising move for the global ridesharing service that has raised more than $7 billion in venture funding. The partnership will involve an equity investment from the Japanese car manufacturer, and will enable Uber drivers to lease Toyota vehicles and make payments through their earnings with Uber.

The announcements of these two separate partnerships follow deals between General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Lyft—which will work toward an electric, autonomous taxi fleet—and between Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL) and China-based Didi Chuxing (fka Didi Kuaidi), which included a $1 billion investment from the tech giant; Didi reportedly accounts for around 87% of China's ridesharing market.